Resource ORAS OU Metagame Discussion

[Agent Gibbs]

I've been inactive for a while because of work and stuff, so I've been trying to get back into the swing of things lately and I've noticed everyone talking about that annoying Gothitelle stall team. Now, I don't have much experience with the exact team, but assuming it's the one in the OU Sample Teams thread, it looks like LO Hoopa-C with Taunt basically 6-0s from team preview. I really don't see what that team does if Hoopa-C comes in and tosses out a Shadow Ball; the only Pokemon that isn't OHKOed or outsped and 2HKOed is Chansey, and it gets rendered toothless by Taunt and worn down with hazards + repeated Focus Blasts / Psyshocks. The best part is that Hoopa-C isn't affected by Shadow Tag since it's a Ghost, so you don't have to worry about Gothitelle pulling off its usual BS. LO Taunt Gengar is kinda the same way, except Mega Sableye needs some prior damage before Shadow Ball will 2HKO it on the switch. How do these teams usually deal with these two? I guess you could just switch around and try to stall them out with hazard damage and LO recoil, but in that case I might start running Spell Tag Hoopa-C for those teams lol.

 

[AM]

I've been inactive for a while because of work and stuff, so I've been trying to get back into the swing of things lately and I've noticed everyone talking about that annoying Gothitelle stall team. Now, I don't have much experience with the exact team, but assuming it's the one in the OU Sample Teams thread, it looks like LO Hoopa-C with Taunt basically 6-0s from team preview. I really don't see what that team does if Hoopa-C comes in and tosses out a Shadow Ball; the only Pokemon that isn't OHKOed or outsped and 2HKOed is Chansey, and it gets rendered toothless by Taunt and worn down with hazards + repeated Focus Blasts / Psyshocks. The best part is that Hoopa-C isn't affected by Shadow Tag since it's a Ghost, so you don't have to worry about Gothitelle pulling off its usual BS. LO Taunt Gengar is kinda the same way, except Mega Sableye needs some prior damage before Shadow Ball will 2HKO it on the switch. How do these teams usually deal with these two? I guess you could just switch around and try to stall them out with hazard damage and LO recoil, but in that case I might start running Spell Tag Hoopa-C for those teams lol.

Not much to worry about when the threat is irrelevant (gets about 0 usage haven't seen one used once)

 

[Flamer]

if goth stall really got that out of hand then Hoopa C would probably see an increase in usage but even so that still doesnt stop goth from wreaking havok on the rest of your mons and there are mons like Togekiss who can break down the team pretty effectively as well.

 

[Agent Gibbs]

Not much to worry about when the threat is irrelevant (gets about 0 usage haven't seen one used once)

So in other words it basically just gets stomped?

I'm not asking so much because Hoopa-C is a common threat, more like a question of "Is there anything they can do to stop me if I start using Hoopa for these stupid teams on the upper ladder?" Sure I could use something more common and standard like Togekiss, but where's the fun in that?

 

[AM]

So in other words it basically just gets stomped?

I'm not asking so much because Hoopa-C is a common threat, more like a question of "Is there anything they can do to stop me if I start using Hoopa for these stupid teams on the upper ladder?" Sure I could use something more common and standard like Togekiss, but where's the fun in that?

Well no cause for facing those stall teams you now run the risk of just meeting the other higher portion of teams packing TTars and pursuiting you left and right. For the trade off of a Hoopa-C you could easily consolidate that into something such as M-Gardevoir to begin with. It's not even the fact of dealing with Hoopa it's that it realistically won't have to, also the fact M-Sableye needing prior damage is kind of an easier said than done deal.

 

[jordanthejq12]

So I was taking a look at the usage stats, and I saw something rather peculiar with Rotom-Heat. Its most common teammate--at 1825 no less--was
Barbaracle, some Shell Smasher down in NU. Is there something that thing can do other than +2 Tough Claws Razor Shell?

 

[SketchUp]

This topic is kinda dead so I'll revive it with some pokemon I love to use in the current metagame

set

Virizion @ Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Leaf Blade
- Stone Edge / Zen Headbutt

Even though Virizion is held back by low physical bulk, a mediocre attack stat and competition from Belly Drum Chesnaught and Breloom, it is still a usable pokemon. Its low attack stat is compensated by a great 120 BP Close Combat, which enables Virizion to hit as hard as Jolly Bisharp's Knock Off. The biggest problem of Virizion when compared to Breloom and Chesnaught is that its special defense barely comes to play, as the typing of Virizion is mainly good for taking strong physical moves such as EQ, Stone Edge, Knock Off and Waterfall. Because of its excellent special defense it can still check some special attackers such as Thundurus and Hydreigon, but that is as far as it goes when looking at strong special attackers. A resistance to ground, rock, and water type attack enables it to set up on pokemon such as Landorus-T, Manaphy (unboosted) and Tyranitar, making it a big offensive threat to balanced teams.
Besides its better speed tier and higher special defense, Virizion also has access to better coverage moves than Breloom and Chesnaught. Chesnaught doesn't have the room to have a 3rd coverage move because it has to run a set of Belly Drum / Sub / Drain Punch / Seed Bomb to really put in work. Breloom and Virizion can both run a rock move as 3rd coverage move (respectively rock tomb and stone edge) but if they want to hurt Talonflame, Tornadus-T and Lati@s, they have to hit them on the switch-in. Breloom also has this problem with Charizard, Timid Togekiss, Dragonite, Volcarona and Victini, while Virizion has the speed tier to hurt these pokemon without having to predict (though there is a risk of missing). Thundurus lacking HP Flying also loses 1v1 against Stone Edge Virizion, while Breloom always loses a 1v1 matchup against LO Thundurus. Zen Headbutt is a coverage move Breloom lacks, but it is a great option to hit Mega Venusaur, Dragalge, Amoongussm and Gengar (on the switch) which Breloom fails to break through without SD Poison Heal Facade or NGift Lansat Berry.

set

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 240 HP / 152 Def / 64 SpD / 52 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Pain Split
- Hydro Pump
- Will-O-Wisp

A set I thought of a few days ago and played a bit with yesterday and today. Sub Rotom-Wash can catch many pokemon off guard and use free turns to slowly weaken the opponent. 240 HP / 152 Def so Talonflame can't break the sub with a Sharp Beak Brave Bird, while Tankchomp also can't break the sub with Dragon Tail. AV Tornadus-T also can't break the sub (Hurricane only breaks it 12.5% of the time, which Torn-T won't click against Rotom-W) without Focus Blast. Sub Rotom-W easily takes free turns from common pokemon like Hippowdon, Tornadus-T, Heatran and Air Balloon Excadrill. Behind a sub, Rotom-W can either burn pokemon like Serperior and stall with sub while they wear themselve down with LO + burn damage, or keep subbing up against pokemon like Mega Venusaur and restore a lot of its health with Pain Split. Because of Rotom-W's low HP stat, it will restore a lot of its health when using Pain Split (for example: a 7% Rotom-W using Pain Split against a 80% Kyurem-B becomes 62% Rotom-W (after Leftovers recovery) and 43% Kyurem-B.) Ground types that pivot into Rotom-W to prevent Volt Switching will fail to break the sub (especially Seismitoad will hate this) Losing out on Volt Switch sucks momentum-wise, but most Volt Switch targets are taken care off with either Wisp or Sub.

sets

Tornadus
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Tailwind
- Taunt
- U-Turn
- Acrobatics

Tornadus @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Rest
- Acrobatics
- Knock Off / Sleep Talk

Not really much to say about this but Tailwind Tornadus is a really nice pokemon on offensive teams. While it lacks the longetivity and speed tier of its therian form, a guaranteed Tailwind can turn the game upside down if used against a Mega Lopunny, Weavile, Alakazam or boosted Dragon Dancers. It kinda works like Tyranitar and Excadrill late game, where the sand makes Excadrill an amazing late game cleaner and possible revengekiller against stuff like Mega Altaria and Mega Zard X. You can compare the speed control with Thundurus' prankster Thunder Wave, which turns offensive threats into easy to revenge kill attackers, but with the ability to have speed control against ground types like Rush Excadrill and RP Lando-T, while also having 2 or 3 more turns to profit from the doubled speed.
Bulk Up is more gimmicky and not really worth a shot on most teams, but it can surprise a lot of pokemon. Prankster Bulk Up to tank a physical hit, Prankster Rest to heal up and then a strong Acrobatics to deal a lot of damage to offensive mons that do not resist it (Azumarill takes 80-90%, Manaphy takes 70-80%, Tankchomp is 2HKO'd) I played with it a bit and it is pretty fun, though it struggles a lot against common pokemon like Hippowdon, Weavile and Mega Alakazam.

 

[Creator of Chaos]

So right now the meta seems divided between various spam teams (dark, fairy and T-wave being the most prominent) as well as sableye stall. I myself use fairy spam. Given the extremes we are now seeing how is standard balance and offence supposed to cope?

I guess volt/turn works well to stop checks being overwhelmed and lop/mane are nice to pressure the builds back but I'm curious to see what others have come up with

 

[AM]

I think spam teams is kind of an overstatement when the spam is implying two offensive focal points using the same type in most cases. It's not like people are going out of their way to use M-Gard, Clef, Azu, Sylveon on one build for the sake of offensive pressure seeing as most teams relying on a certain "spam" need to take into account overlapping weaknesses.

I don't get the coping aspect either they'll still do what they always have in terms of team roles. Most the actual extremities are in the form of Offense V Stall where slower balances are a pretty rare sight and bring up more matchup based elements in not being deterred by your typical offensive wall-breakers hence why the "safer" route now is to use one of these polar opposites.

 

[AM]

I'm just gonna go ahead double post because I can and I kind of don't like this thread being dead seeing as how when I'm at work or away from the sim / away from doing battles / testing it gives me some perspective that I can keep a note of.

One thing that I've been fond of in particular lately with my catchphrase of Breloom wins again is the SD / Spore Breloom set. Those who have been watching me in the OU room play some test matches and casual room tour games probably have seen pull off some team sweeps with it in multiple scenarios lol

Sample idea of what it does what it does

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-288627186 - Cleaning a team
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-288371659 - Vertex showing why Klefki is literal Satan and how Loom is a ninja against Serperior

The set I've been using which I personally think is the best variant right now and figured I would share is the Fist Plate variant. Life Orbs recoil puts Breloom into a decent amount of KO ranges where as Fist Plate boosts the number one move without that health decreasing effect.

Breloom @ Fist Plate
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch
- Spore
- Swords Dance

Sands increase in general usage I find has given Breloom some increased potential to punish these teams and the power behind this set is pretty nice.

I personally think rain is going to be making a generally slow come back if it hasn't already. Maybe I'm the only one but I've seen a fair amount of these rain teams (I'm not a fan of that one with M-Scizor / Chomp on it though :/ ) being used. M-Altarias increased usage before made rain somewhat a pretty match up reliant playstyle seeing as how you had to make a bunch of prediction games to offset the Dragon Dance variants. Now with the decrease of said mon and more offensive playstyles utilizing Zard, Weavile, and such I believe it can be a powerful force, something that should be taken into account when building.

SketchUp I've played a bit with Tornadus as well but I'm not exactly too fond of the set you're using simply cause I think power > utility is key in breaking down strong defensive cores and it works better on more high octane teams. Granted this was used on a birdspam team but the set I was running to give you an idea was this one.

Conducted Rhythms (Tornadus) @ Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Hurricane
- Superpower
- Iron Tail
- Tailwind

Flying / Fighting coverage is good I think Iron Tail is kind of obvious for M-Diancie seeing as how M-Diancie is traditionally a problem for people trying to accomplish any sort of bird spam team which normally is built around Mega Pinsir as its focal point.

So I guess to gauge some discussion points that I'm more or less interested in without going too crazy with discussion.

What are your thoughts on the Trick Room playstyle?

I've only seen two good builds in the ORAS meta of it one being MattyBrolic's M-Steelix team during the OST times, which is probably outdated by now with Zard-X usage at its high point and Sharpteeths TR team featuring Life Orb Azumarill that he generally ladders with.

Thoughts on anti-meta trends?

Vertex and I joke all the time of how Jirachi is broken because it flinches literally everything to death, but in all seriousness I think Jirachi is actually a very versatile mon in the right hands and can display some very capable uses such as its EBelt and Scarf variants, both classic offensive tools to lure mons for a coined win condition such as Mega Tyranitar (which you can see on a build myself and flegg worked on in the RMT competition right now, weak to stall though!!!! Pokepals fix the 80 SpA on Klefki LOL it should be 88) or to provide pivot relief against Mega Gardevoir on offense for the likes of Latias and M-Manectric.

Another anti-meta trend I find is Life Orb Clefable, seeing as how the majority of its counter measures in terms of defense rely on being able to switch into the classic Moonblast, Twave variant, which most times depending on what's trying to be lured, won't be able to against a more offensive variant

Tsurugi No Mai (Clefable) (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Thunderbolt
- Fire Blast
- Stealth Rock / Softboiled

This is a variant I run on a HO team with M-Metagross (I use rocks cause I needed it Softboiled is better). Timid is to outpace standard Rotom-W, Defensive Lando-T, Crawdaunt, the ever so common Adamant Bisharp + Klefki combos (seriously I think it's time we stop using Adamant Bish and go back to Jolly please thanks). This is however a team specific aspect where Modest is still a good option for power purposes. Coverage options all depend on team so you have options of 3 attacks / softboiled stuff like Psyshock for M-Venusaur and Amoonguss switch ins, Focus Blast for Heatran, Ice Beam for Gliscor, etc. Fire Blast is to clean out Adamant Bisharp, Ferrothorn, bulky M-Scizors who think they're safe in roosting or setting up while Thunderbolt catches Talonflame, Skarmory more easily instead of Fire Blast missing, and Manaphy. I also started using this set on the build that I was referencing in the Jirachi post because it helps break down defensive cores that annoy that Mega Ttar team a bit better and I found this + Keld is normally enough to keep Weavile at bay.

Anything you think is seeing a decline in effectiveness and usage?

Personally as I've stated and have got hounded on by many others when I said this in my carefree blunt ways in the OU room lol, I think M-Scizor is overrated and is particularly not the knight in shining armor that it was claimed to be a couple months back when everyone was spamming these M-Zor balances. It's pretty evident considering I've seen more M-Gross builds than I had before so I guess I must not be the only one catching on to this. Seeing as its been pigeon holed into the bulky U-Turn set to not be a liability to stuff like Zards I find it rather disappointing.

I've also kind of stopped watching OLT until it gets into the quarter final stages seeing as how there's been a lot of....less than stellar matches contradictory to tournaments roots of sparking meta development and high level games. So thoughts on the meta would be nice.

 

[p2]

New usage stats are out

Notable differences in Pokemon usage

15.9% -> 20.1%

6.8% -> 10.2%

6.1% -> 8.4%
+ We took back Pinsir and Medicham

Rocky Helmet Garchomp is slowly falling in usage, dropping from 63% to 56% with Lum variants becoming a lot more common
Defensive Lando-T is picking up in usage again, Leftovers is the most used item sitting at 32%
LO Keldeo is picking up in usage, jumping from 7% to 16%, Taunt isn't in "Other" anymore
Adamant Bisharp has shot up in usage a ton from 18% to 29%
People are finally realising how good Psychic Manaphy is and is now sitting at 21% usage

There isn't anything really special about this, though the large spark in Keldeo usage its pretty interesting and seems to be related to the rise in popularity of Taunt :0

 

[Skizzorz]

Does anyone honestly think Mega Medicham is going to stay in OU for long? And for that matter, Pinsir aswell? I saw that both of them moved up in the recent tier shift, and I know both of them are offensive powerhouses. However, Mega Medicham gets destroyed by common threats in the tier, notably Talonflame and Pinsir off the top of my head. In addition, Pinsir is easily stopped by Talonflame, Garchomp, TTar, both Charizard MEvos, and it's lack of bulk leaves a dent in it even with neutral hits. I ran a few calcs on the two:

252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Return vs. 16 HP / 0 Def Mega Medicham: 566-668 (213.5 - 252%) -- guaranteed OHKO
240+ Atk Pure Power Mega Medicham Fire Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Pinsir: 252-298 (92.9 - 109.9%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

The two can basically beat up each other, though in a 1v1, Mega Pinsir outspeeds and OHKO's with a Return.

252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Pinsir: 402-474 (148.3 - 174.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
I even took Choice Band off to see what it would do...
252+ Atk Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Pinsir: 270-318 (99.6 - 117.3%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
...and it still has a high chance to OHKO...

252 Atk Garchomp Rock Slide vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Pinsir: 280-332 (103.3 - 122.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Garchomp Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Pinsir: 372-440 (137.2 - 162.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Keep in mind, those two calculations don't include Choice Band or Life Orb, which are commonly thrown on Garchy.

252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Play Rough vs. 16 HP / 0 Def Mega Medicham: 410-486 (154.7 - 183.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
This is the AV Azumarill, not even Banded.

There are a lot more threats, such as Mega Gallade. Will these two stay in OU?

 

[EraiMHFU]

Does anyone honestly think Mega Medicham is going to stay in OU for long? And for that matter, Pinsir aswell? I saw that both of them moved up in the recent tier shift, and I know both of them are offensive powerhouses. However, Mega Medicham gets destroyed by common threats in the tier, notably Talonflame and Pinsir off the top of my head. In addition, Pinsir is easily stopped by Talonflame, Garchomp, TTar, both Charizard MEvos, and it's lack of bulk leaves a dent in it even with neutral hits. I ran a few calcs on the two:

252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Return vs. 16 HP / 0 Def Mega Medicham: 566-668 (213.5 - 252%) -- guaranteed OHKO
240+ Atk Pure Power Mega Medicham Fire Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Pinsir: 252-298 (92.9 - 109.9%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

The two can basically beat up each other, though in a 1v1, Mega Pinsir outspeeds and OHKO's with a Return.

252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Pinsir: 402-474 (148.3 - 174.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
I even took Choice Band off to see what it would do...
252+ Atk Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Pinsir: 270-318 (99.6 - 117.3%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
...and it still has a high chance to OHKO...

252 Atk Garchomp Rock Slide vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Pinsir: 280-332 (103.3 - 122.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Garchomp Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Pinsir: 372-440 (137.2 - 162.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Keep in mind, those two calculations don't include Choice Band or Life Orb, which are commonly thrown on Garchy.

252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Play Rough vs. 16 HP / 0 Def Mega Medicham: 410-486 (154.7 - 183.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
This is the AV Azumarill, not even Banded.

There are a lot more threats, such as Mega Gallade. Will these two stay in OU?

Now I can make a proper answer.

1st: Like Icing On Da Cake, Drop and DavisWuhu said at SQSA, The tier system is usage-based, not viability or stat-based, this means that even a shitmon can be OU if is used a lot, a example of this is Ambipom at RU, who is considerated garbage in our analysis, but its still RU by usage; is like saying that M-Mawile was not broken because Talonflame could use WoW to avoid sucker punch( and I even feel that she was not ban-worthy to tbh)

2nd: I gave you a simple answer at SQSA, but now I'll explain myself.

Medicham: It just 2HKO or OHKO the entire metagame after Stealth Rocks, it hits ridicously hard and nothing (bar Fat Psychic types) has safe switch in at the risk of taking a huge chunk of health and then getting picked off by Bullet Punch, it really deserves its spot at OU, and to solve the Fat Psychic types issue its often paired with Bisharp or Tyranitar.

Pinsir: This guy can work as early-game wall breaker or a Late-game cleaner, its Aerilate-Boosted quick attacks hits hard as Scizor's bullet punch and Return can put a large dent on Rotom-W on the switch, however, it suffers from a crippling x4 weakness to Stealth Rock and a mediocre typing, at also faces competition from other boosting megas like Zard-X.

I just noticed you joined yesterday, Welcome to Smogon bro!

If you want somebody to help you, i can, our ages arent too different, you are 13 and im 14.

 

[Skizzorz]

Now I can make a proper answer.

1st: Like Icing On Da Cake, Drop and DavisWuhu said at SQSA, The tier system is usage-based, not viability or stat-based, this means that even a shitmon can be OU if is used a lot, a example of this is Ambipom at RU, who is considerated garbage in our analysis, but its still RU by usage; is like saying that M-Mawile was not broken because Talonflame could use WoW to avoid sucker punch( and I even feel that she was not ban-worthy to tbh)

2nd: I gave you a simple answer at SQSA, but now I'll explain myself.

Medicham: It just 2HKO or OHKO the entire metagame after Stealth Rocks, it hits ridicously hard and nothing (bar Fat Psychic types) has safe switch in at the risk of taking a huge chunk of health and then getting picked off by Bullet Punch, it really deserves its spot at OU, and to solve the Fat Psychic types issue its often paired with Bisharp or Tyranitar.

Pinsir: This guy can work as early-game wall breaker or a Late-game cleaner, its Aerilate-Boosted quick attacks hits hard as Scizor's bullet punch and Return can put a large dent on Rotom-W on the switch, however, it suffers from a crippling x4 weakness to Stealth Rock and a mediocre typing, at also faces competition from other boosting megas like Zard-X.

I just noticed you joined yesterday, Welcome to Smogon bro!

If you want somebody to help you, i can, our ages arent too different, you are 13 and im 14.

Thanks for the welcome! I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that... The calculations and their scenarios make no sense. I may need help time to time but for now, I'm doing quite alright. Again, thanks for clearing things up.

 

[jordanthejq12]

So I've noticed another usage statistic oddity, that Dragonite's second most common item is a Weakness Policy, edging out a Choice Band. And yes, this is at 1825. Banded Dragonite's usage has fallen immensely over the last month, while WP's seen a resurgence of sorts.

I do wonder, have recent trends made the notoriously hit-or-miss item choice more hit?

 

[SketchUp]

So I've noticed another usage statistic oddity, that Dragonite's second most common item is a Weakness Policy, edging out a Choice Band. And yes, this is at 1825. Banded Dragonite's usage has fallen immensely over the last month, while WP's seen a resurgence of sorts.

I do wonder, have recent trends made the notoriously hit-or-miss item choice more hit?

This team was used quiet a lot, for the same reason you see Empoleon with 62% at HP Fire.

 

[Celticpride]

So I've noticed another usage statistic oddity, that Dragonite's second most common item is a Weakness Policy, edging out a Choice Band. And yes, this is at 1825. Banded Dragonite's usage has fallen immensely over the last month, while WP's seen a resurgence of sorts.

I do wonder, have recent trends made the notoriously hit-or-miss item choice more hit?

Nah just ladder shenanigans. There's not really many if any trends that could make Weakness Policy more consistent to use actually.

 

[p2]

new usage stats are up

notable changes:

14.7% -> 11.8% what the fuck.

9.1% -> 7.5%

7.1% -> 8.5%

suspect test stuff:

5.3% -> 9.5%

5.1% -> 6.2%

Choice Scarf 28.057% on Excadrill, when are people gonna stop using this absolute ass mon
Life Orb 23.923% on Torn-T, when are people gonna realize LO torn-t is ridic

pretty boring changes this month tbh

 

[EraiMHFU]

What the hell with scarf Driller? 28%?!
When us people going to realize how ass is that set damn...

 

[SketchUp]

Scarf Exca is at 28% because the Azelf / Dragonite / Scarf Exca / Talonflame / MPinsir / Mana team is pretty common. Btw it's not that absolute ass set you're saying it is. It's decent.

 

[EraiMHFU]

Scarf Exca is at 28% because the Azelf / Dragonite / Scarf Exca / Talonflame / MPinsir / Mana team is pretty common. Btw it's not that absolute ass set you're saying it is. It's decent.

If I wanted an Scarf ground I'd just use Lando or Garchomp since both have better speed tiers and Lando has a lot of options, it can boom, it gets knock off, stone edge (rock slide on excadrill lmao), U-Turn and even superpower.

Garchomp revenge kills relevant stuff like +1 Zard X, Dragonite, and its not bopped by priority mach punch or aqua jet.

People seems to use scarf drill for fast spin but somehow they can't fit the already splashable Starmie.

Excadrill's only good set is the Sand Rush set, FatDrill is still frail anf super easy to worn down.

 

[Kav]

i mean using excy to combine revenge killer and spinner in one is pretty reasonable. definitely fits better than starm if your team is weaker to elecs and faries compared to grounds or whatever.

fat drill is pretty bad but again still has a spot. way more niche though.

seriously though how the hell has bisharp dropped lol. especially if lop dropped in usage too. though lop dropping surprises me too tbh.

also fuck tornadus accuracy

 

[AM]

Medicham and klefki were kind of obvious, kyurem-b not really obvious but not necessarily a surprise being one of the best mons to deter the majority of rockers in the tier. Notable changes must be missing something pretty key cause bish dropping a bit is strange on fleggs comment alone but not the grand scheme of things (weavile being fantastic, keldeo usage). Its not really a surprise bisharp dropped in usage tbf, while still a threat some things are getting better or people are catching on to other things (breloom, hoopau, crawdaunt) that could contribute to lower usage. Lopunny usage isnt a surprise. Lots of hype factors have been dying down so the tier is starting to become more stable in terms of its archetype and what people have and are willing to be used. Has landot usage rose (on phone not looking lol) seems like its on par with garchomp these days.

Edit: any other notable changes?

 

[jordanthejq12]

Medicham and klefki were kind of obvious, kyurem-b not really obvious but not necessarily a surprise being one of the best mons to deter the majority of rockers in the tier. Notable changes must be missing something pretty key cause bish dropping a bit is strange on fleggs comment alone but not the grand scheme of things (weavile being fantastic, keldeo usage). Its not really a surprise bisharp dropped in usage tbf, while still a threat some things are getting better or people are catching on to other things (breloom, hoopau, crawdaunt) that could contribute to lower usage. Lopunny usage isnt a surprise. Lots of hype factors have been dying down so the tier is starting to become more stable in terms of its archetype and what people have and are willing to be used. Has landot usage rose (on phone not looking lol) seems like its on par with garchomp these days.

Edit: any other notable changes?

Lando actually dropped slightly during the regular ladder, but is #1 in usage on suspect. (Those two have been first and second in usage for a while.) Torn-T dropped like four percentage points while Heatran had a decent surge.

Moveset-wise, Mega Chomp had enough item usage to get its own row, Adamant Lando-T is nowhere to be seen, and a lot more Heatran have been carrying Earth Power, enough that it's now the third most common move.

 

[Flamer]

yeah the only reason scarf driller has risen is copy paste team hype. Its not that ass but its a requirement on the specific team in question.

Im surprised that loom usage has remained constant, its been getting a lot more effective, especially given that it beats many of the top used mons atm. Also, CB loom is pretty effective and fun to use, although you have to sacrifice Spore and SD for more immediate power CB Technician boosted Force Palm is scary and has a nice chance to para.